Japanese Robots: iREX Multimedia Wrap-Up (VIDEOS & GALLERY)

Japan’s premier robot expo is over, and all that remains of iREX 2013 are the things we learned, contacts we made, and the videos, photos, and desperate attempts to effectively communicate the breadth of what exactly went down. Something beyond “Wow, it was like… so many awesome robots.” Not so easy, that.

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Welcome to iREX 2013: “You Will be Overwhelmed”Okay, that wasn’t the International Robot Exhibition’s official theme, but for presenters, attendees, and we the media flailing around to succinctly nutshell the whole thing, it certainly seems the most common refrain. Even with four days of perusing, playing, interviewing, and networking, it’s challenging to come away with a genuinely cohesive sense of what was witnessed. The sentiment is probably too well worn, but it’s true: it would be easier to point out the esteemed robotics projects not represented at this show.

Even for the most ultra-robodorky among us, there were almost, though not quite - but almost too many robots at iREX. Or, four days every two years just isn't enough. Either way, same difference.

iROBOWHAT Now? If this is your first visit to AkihabaraNews’ Japanese Robots feature series and you'd like some review, get yourself hip to all the particulars at our iREX 2013 primer. Basically, the International Robot Exhibition is a biennial hybrid of science fair, trade show, state of the robo-union address, and gigantic PR event stuffed into the entirety of the Tokyo Big Sight conference center's East Halls (not a small area). While dominated by Japanese makers & manufacturers, around 100 robotics firms from around the world also bring their show-and-tell to Tokyo. They do this for each other, for the public, and, of course, for the press.

The actual theme of iREX 2013 was “Making a Future with Robot” * (<-please note the asterisk). But, given the enormity and scope of the show, and with so much effort and energy and mind driving the robotics on display there, Making a Future with Robot* seems a ship that’s already at sea - now we just have to figure out how best to organize this life. Luckily, the supernerds at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), who were meeting concurrently and right next door, are also working hard to incorporate robots into our lives with intelligence, ethics, and a framework of safety.

AkihabaraNews’ iREX Robot Video Compilation & Photo galleryShort of a term paper or a 45-minute documentary, it’s just not possible to get all of iREX into one chunk of publication, but we do have some favorites. Not all of the robots featured below are deployed or deployable, but the majority actually are. Whether already in the field or slated for use within just a few months, these machines are very much on the forefront of Making Life with Robot.*

Nope, not a comprehensive survey of iREX 2013, but it gives you a window into what's happening on the cutting edge of humanity's robotics technologies. Here are the videos, also viewable at our YouTube channel, and the iREX 2013 photo gallery is also linked below:

*A typo? No. Are there any plural nouns in Japanese? No. Anyone at the world-class robo-event organizing or marketing team bother to check their English grammar before getting t-shirts made up and inviting the entire planet? Yeaaaahhh… No.

Get it together, Japan - you’ve only got 6 years until the Olympics, yo!

SoftBank group is showing that it is really serious about the humanoid robot business.

SoftBank's subsidiary company, Asratec Corp. today introduced control software for humanoid robots - called V-Sido OS. They expect that V-Sido OS will be installed in future robots which will be introduced by many companies.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has decided to adopt Japanese standards for assistive robotics tech. Developers in Japan, the vanguard of a potentially global industry, got their deserved props, and they can now look toward overseas expansion and competition.

This week, well, they say dancing around screaming “I TOLD YOU SO!” isn’t very polite, but we will because SCHAFT Robotics' co-founder publicly declared J-startup culture moribund and is building his own investment fund, Nintendo pwned some patent trolls, and maybe, just maybe, SONY LIVES!